iPad 3 - page 2

The hysterical crybabies over at Consumer Reports — who, ever since the iPhone 4 came out, never have been able to let a new iOS product pass without Chicken Littling it — have just released a report “supplementing” their earlier one, saying that while the new iPad gets “harmlessly hot” in testings (more on this below), well, so do other tablets… like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (which reached the same 121 degree temperature in their tests) as well as the Asus Transformer Prime (which was close, at 117 degrees).

If you’re interested, you can go read their report here. Here’s something to note, though: although in an email to Cult of Mac tipping us about their additional tests, Consumer Reports writer James McQueen said that the most they found was that the iPad could get alternatingly “harmlessly hot” or “harmlessly warm” (a direct quote), this phrase (or even just the word “harmless”) never appears in their public report, nor did it appear in their last report. Hard to get people all fired up — wokka — about harmless heat, isn’t it?

Well, here we go again. Despite the crowing of many “journalists” looking for a click, or so-called consumer agencies which have dumped objective reviews to chase page views, the public loves it some new iPads. According to a survey by ChangeWave, fully 82% of respondents said they were “very satisfied” with the new iPad. And adding in the numbers for “somewhat satisfied,” (16%) we get a 98% satisfaction rating. Not bad, right?

Andy Patrizio of Tablet PC Review decided to get to the bottom of the sporadic reports of bad Wi-Fi reception in the iPad 3. Armed with the new iPad, a first-gen iPad, and a couple of iPhones (3GS and 4S), he fired up the SpeedTest app and pointed it at his Cisco WRT310N 802.11a/b/g/n router. The results? The iPad 3 came in dead last, but it’s not as bad as you might have heard.

LTE is one of the key features available on the new iPad. All that extra speed can be a great feature for consumers and business users alike, although the ability to burn through data that quickly means that all LTE iPad users need to be more conscious of their data use than with the previous 3G iPads (the same will no doubt be true for the next iPhone).

A new study claims that most iPad Internet access (94%) still takes place over Wi-Fi networks, however. That seems like bad news for carriers and it sounds like comforting news for CIOs and IT professionals worried about unknown iPads in their companies. After all, if only 6% of iPad connections occur over 3G/4G, then most iPads in the office are using a corporate network and can be tracked and monitored to ensure data and network security.

Unfortunately digging into the actual data from the study reveals iPad users with 3G and LTE models are actually spending a lot more than 6% of their time using their cellular connection.

Give most elderly people an iPad and even if they are not tech savvy, they suddenly just get it. Unfortunately, not so for this guy from a German comedy show, who puts his iPad’s Gorilla Glass coating and liquid damage indicators to the test by using his brand new tablet as a chopping board. His daughter’s expression at the end pretty much covers the same surge of horror I feel at the idea of using my new $829 iPad Wi-Fi + LTE for similar ends.

[via AllThingsD]

One of the immediate associations that most people have when they think about the iPad in business is the iPad as a sales tool. Not surprising given its form factor and the ease with which it can display presentations, offer up a portfolio, and generate quotes on the fly.

Do those abilities really add up to increased sales over binders of information, colorful brochures, and canned presentations on DVD? For home security giant ADT, the answer is an emphatic yes.

In the desktop and laptop world, computer chips tend to get smaller over time, but with the A5X, Apple has gone a different route: they’ve actually made the chip bigger than its predecessors.

How big is the A5X? Over 310 percent bigger than the A4 shipped in the iPhone 4 and original iPad.

Here at Cult of Mac, we’re interested in building a data set which we can use to determine which networks offer the fastest and most reliable 3G & LTE coverage to new iPad owners. We’ll then use this data to report on which new iPad carrier is the best in each country or territory where it’s available.

Will LTE networks be crushed by demand, or will the upgrade to true 4G be as dramatic as the likes of AT&T and Verizon would like us to be. Finally, will most people who buy an iPad Wi-Fi + 4G even live within an LTE coverage area?

If you’ve got a new iPad Wi-Fi + 4G, could you take a couple minutes out of playing with your new, shiny tablet and help us out?

Do you use your iPad as a second monitor using Air Display to wirelessly extend your desktop? If so, bet you wish you could harness your new iPad’s retina display, don’t you? Unfortunately, the functionality currently isn’t baked into Air Display, but that’ll soon change… and for the first time let millions of OS X users experiment with the hidden HiDPI mode in Lion and Mountain Lion.

Earlier this week, NetZero launched a new freemium mobile broadband service using Clearwire’s WiMax 4G network. Although NetZero is the first U.S. company to launch a “free” 4G service, it isn’t going to be the last. Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom has begun work on a similar service called FreedomPop that will launch this summer.

FreedomPop plans to offer more monthly data for free than NetZero’s paltry 200MB. It will also target iPhone owners as a major part of its user base.

In most regards, Consumer Reports do great work, but when it comes to Apple’s mobile devices, they’ve historically tended to act like bozos. Quickly jumping upon the Antennagate bandwagon when the iPhone 4 came out, Consumer Reports refused to recommend Apple’s latest handset for over a year. When the iPhone 4S came out, Consumer Reports grudgingly said it was worth buying, but not as good as Android phones. Are you for real?

Anyway, yesterday, in response to reports that the new iPad ran hotter than its predecessor, Consumer Reports eagerly promised to investigate, sniffing another scandal. They’ve now published some preliminary results, though, and surprise! They’re surprisingly sensible.

According to a new report, Microsoft will launch Windows 8 this October. That tracks with the company’s announced plan to launch the latest version of Windows before the end of the. The launch will include traditional PCs like desktops and notebook as well as tablets. How successful Microsoft and its partners will be in taking business and consumer tablet marketshare away from the iPad remains an open question, however.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iox5Q2nWi-Q

The staggering difference in quality of the new iPad’s display isn’t hype, it’s real. It’s a jaw-dropping difference, one that finally turns the iPad into the promise of its potential: a living, breathing page through which the wide world can be explored. The new iPad is the best consumer display on the market at almost any price, period…

Which makes it completely befuddling that in a blind test, a surprising amount of Apple Store customers couldn’t tell the difference between the iPad 2 and the new iPad.

Earlier today, Tim Cook played coy with how many new iPads they had sold opening weekend, but a mere eight hours later, the numbers are in, and it’s a record setting weekend indeed: Apple sold 3 million iPads in the first weekend of sales alone. That’s three times as many as last year… and with plenty to go around for everyone. Press release after the jump.

Apple wasn’t willing to go on record with the new iPad’s initial launch figures just yet, but when quizzed about it during the Q&A session of today’s announcement of an official dividend and stock repurchase plan, Tim Cook did let slip a bit about how well the new iPad had done.

Why yes, we did just release episode 4 of The CultCast two days ago, but this is a special New-iPad hands-on edition recorded just hours ago! They’re here, we have them, and in this special episode, we tell you what we think of them.

And make sure you catch the end; we decided to include an impromptu preshow discussion on the Agony and Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs, the powerful monologue by Mike Daisy that’s been getting press for allegedly being partly fabricated. We discuss: it’s focussed consumers’ attention on labor conditions in China, does it matter that it might not be 100% true?

When Apple first announced the new third-generation iPad, there were people — and, I suppose, still are people — who were disappointed. Why they were disappointed is inexplicable; what they envisioned is hard to imagine. The flying car of tablets, one supposes: they called the new iPad an “incremental update” when what Apple had just handed them may as well have come spiraling through a time vortex from the future. It’s that good.

Let’s face facts. In the last year, Android makers haven’t even been able to ship a viable competitor to the iPad 2. The new iPad, with its Retina Display and LTE technology, is unlike anything else on the market. No one is even close to making a tablet as fast, as beautiful, as vivid, as thin or as long-lasting as this, and if history is any guide, when the fourth-generation iPad comes out, they’ll still be trying to catch up.

Make no mistake. If the new iPad isn’t a “beefy” enough upgrade for you, you’re not just spoiled. You’re not just completely out of touch with the state of the tech landscape today. No, you’re bonkers. This is the most advanced piece of consumer mobile electronics tech available today.

In what may just be the speediest jailbreak ever, Dev Team uberlord MuscleNerd has confirmed that he has already jailbroken the iPad 2 and Apple A5X SoC.

Since 3 a.m. this morning I’ve been subjected to the most vile of tortures. All my co-workers on Cult of Mac were hanging out in our chat-room, gushing about their new iPads, while I sat helpless, waiting for my tablet to be delivered later in the afternoon by FedEx. We’ve heard a lot of reports on Twitter that Apple Store lines have diminished quickly and there’s plenty of stock left. Around 8:45 a.m. I couldn’t take hearing John and Alex talk about their retina displays, so I decided to drive down the road to my local Apple Store to see what the line was line. Shockingly, there wasn’t a line, and it appears that across the country, Apple has plenty of new iPads instock, which means you’ll probably be able to buy an iPad today.

People may love the new iPad, but it seems that not everyone loves the name “new iPad.” A recent poll found that more half of consumers don’t like it and would rather see Apple go back to specific model names like the iPad 2 or iPhone 4S.

According the poll, run by opinion and survey site SodaHead.com, 54% of users liked the old naming format better with 46% approving of the simpler designation of the device as simply “the new iPad.”

After unboxing your new iPad and getting it setup, the first thing you should do is open up the App Store and download some essential games. We’ve compiled a list of 9 of the App Store’s greatest offerings, which we think should be installed on every iPad. These are games you certainly won’t want to miss.

If you’re waiting for your new iPad to arrive, you might be wondering about cases. The difference in the thickness between an iPad 2 and an iPad 3 is only about half a millimeter: is that enough to mean you need to buy a new case?

After putting our new iPad through its paces, we’re happy to say that it will probably be a very rare thing indeed for a case to be incompatible with the new iPad.

As with many Apple product launches, today’s release of the new iPad is mostly a consumer event. But that doesn’t mean that the launch won’t have an impact on businesses. In fact, on Monday morning a number of new iPads may be walking into workplaces around the world. And users may be lobbying their employers to purchase the new iPad – if they haven’t stared doing so already.

So, what questions should businesses or IT professionals be asking about the new iPad? More importantly, what are the answers to those questions?

Just because he co-founded frickin’ Apple doesn’t mean that Steve Wozniak is some sort of wooly, barrel-chested, twinkle-toes GOD. He puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like us. Sure, he does it while balancing precariously on a Segway, but still. He’s definitely a man, and not, in fact, an immortal.

As if to prove it, every time a new iPhone or iPad is released, Woz goes on down and waits in line to pick up the latest Apple product just like the rest of us plebs, and this year is no different, except for one thing: instead of being first in line, Woz is second.

The new iPad’s Retina Display is perfect for reading, so some of the most highly-sought after app updates are going to be the ones that make the best iPad e-reading apps compatible with the doubled resolution. And, in fact, many such apps, like Kindle, Evernote and Readability have already updated.

Unfortunately, when you get your new iPad today, you’ll have to slog through Marco Arment’s best-selling e-reading app Instapaper in fuzzy old SD. But don’t despair, Retina Display support is coming soon.